Me and my friends haven’t gone on a road trip in quite some time. So when we spoke about driving somewhere we all had never gone before, it was hard. We were sick of Mysore Road and have seen pretty much every attraction that stretch of Karnataka has to offer. This was going to be a proper weekend drive – leave early Saturday morning and be back by Sunday night, so given the time frame, the choice of destinations were quite limited to begin with.

As luck would have it, a friend of mine uploaded a few photos he had taken from his visit to a place called Gandikota in Andhra Pradesh. I had never heard of the place before but when I saw his photos, I just couldn’t believe I had never even known about its existence! Upon asking him for more information about Gandikota and doing some research on my own, I suggested a drive to Gandikota to my friends.

Some of them were apprehensive, saying it looked like “just a canal,” some couldn’t make it, but I was still hell-bent on going there. Charting a route map using Google Maps, the drive from Devanahalli to Gandikota was going to take approximately 5 hours (250kms). I also found that we can drive to another attraction, Belum Caves, from Gandikota itself and that would take over an hour to cover the 60km distance. From Belum Caves, we could then drive to the town of Anantapur and connect back to NH7 to drive back all the way to Bangalore city (280 kms).

After much convincing and last minute tussles, we (myself and friends Anand and Ramesh) were ready to venture into a territory hardly many from Bangalore have gone before.

Date: December 17th, 2011

The plan was for Anand to first pick me up and then Ramesh by 6am, but as is usually the case on our drives, we were slightly delayed and only picked up Ramesh as it neared 7am.

We started from Sarjapur-Outer Ring Road… which was rather foggy at 7amWe drove on Airport Road and past Devanahalli

We stopped at a Kamat restaurant adjoining a Bharat Petroleum bunk to our left for breakfast. After puris and tea, we set off again towards Chikballapur.

We got off the main highway at a major intersection from where you need to take a right (Image: Google Maps)We did get a bit of rough road…… but got back on to smooth tarmac soon afterBut we had to slow down when we saw thisBangalore’s mutton supply discovered!There was a LOT of them!We waited until the herd passed byPapa goat?We came straight down that road and passed this statue of the late YSR. When we stopped to confirm if we were going the right way, a passer by told us we need to take a right instead to head towards KadiriWe were now in the state of Andhra Pradesh

The road got narrow for a bitBy 11am, we were in the town of KadiriRaja looks pleased

Kadapa is the nearest major town to Gandikota, but we decided to drive through an alternate route that would take us straight to GandikotaWe came down that road and took a right towards JammalamaduguWe stopped for a tea break at a dhaba along the wayGopi was the name of one of our ex-bosses… but that’s not why we stopped here, I swear 😉The landscape in these parts is completely different. Lots of rocks…… and the rocks just stay (Taken by Ramesh)We had our Rs. 5 chai

It was 11:45am, and we still had a long way to goWe hit the road againThis was pretty coolThis temple under that huge rock

For most our journey, we traversed through sparsely populated villages and barren landscapes — and hardly any vehicles with a ‘KA’ registration(Photograph by Ramesh)There were SO many sunflower fields on either side(Mind you, just about all the shots above were taken from behind the car window)Even though Ramesh had copies of the map routes on his Nook tablet, we relied heavily on the Google Latitude mobile app to check if we were on the right pathMore ‘mutton’ crossings

We eventually reached a small village where we had to stop at a railway crossing. Something that took an ungodly long time!

We had plenty of time to take photos of ourselves in the car

Nearly half-an-hour later, the train finally shows up — and how…

We had lost quite a bit of time and it was already lunch time. Fortunately as we arrived in the town of Jammalamadugu (yeah, try saying that fast) we saw a sign of hope.

Finally, we were getting nearer!The roads for the most part were good… and there were *hardly* anybody else driving through these roadsThere’s quite a lot of windmill activity by Suzlon in these neck of the woodsThe road got narrower — which meant we were getting closeAnd by 2:15pm, we had finally reached our destination! Haritha Hotel Gandikota, by APTDC

When we called up this hotel (Ph: (0)90105 54899) to book a room, the guy who answered simply told Ramesh “just come”. Now we know why. There were hardly any other guests besides us!

The waiter/receptionist/attendant showed us the cottages, we didn’t want an A/C room, so we just took a fan room that had a large bed which could easily accommodate the three of us. The room cost Rs. 630 ($11/€9), and we didn’t have to pay anything extra for the third person. Unfortunately, the water heaters weren’t working. (Why is it just about every hotel in India that costs about the same has such a problem with providing hot water?!)

We were hungry, and sat down at the restaurant for lunch

There wasn’t a menu, so we just asked what was available for lunch. The receptionist/attendant/waiter told us: “chapathi, phulkas, dal curry“. That’s it. We didn’t have any choice but to order all three.

Since they hardly see any guests, they don’t stock any meat either. But receptionist/attendant/waiter assured us we would have more options available for dinner, like egg. Sigh…

When our food came, the chapathis and phulkas were essentially the same – both were made using maida, the phulkas only being a little smaller. And I doubt the phulkas were made the way they are traditionally done so. They cost the same too, Rs. 24 per plate (a plate has two), so you might as well just order chapathis. The dal (Rs. 40) was passable. We were hungry, so had to eat what was given.

By the way, they have the full stable of Coca Cola’s offerings like Kinley water and soda, besides the other carbonated drinks like Sprite, so you really don’t need to carry the same when coming here. Unless you’re a Pepsi fan.

We decided to take a few photos of the hotelYou can see the Gandikota fort wall from hereEverything is made of granite stoneOur room was in the backThe cottages are on the extreme left (Panorama comprised of 9 shots)(Photograph by Anand)

We decided not to leave our bags in our room just yet. Instead, we wasted no time in heading straight to the fort.

Once you reach the fort walls, you can take your vehicle inside and down a narrow ‘S’ path, through a small village to park right near Gandikota masjid (mosque).

We parked by the sideThere was no entrance fee to enter the masjid, but the guides there said we’d have to pay Rs. 25 since we have professional cameras

The Jamia Masjid

Anand’s Canon SX30IS super-zoom is truly impressiveAfter the masjid, we went in here to pay the ‘camera fee’There was no sign anywhere saying Rs. 25 was the ‘camera fee,’ but the guide sounded kind enough and eager to tell us about this place without asking for any money, so we didn’t mind paying up

Panorama comprised of 4 shotsPhotograph by RameshI walked to this temple while Ramesh and Anand walked towards the gorgeThe stones are mostly red granite

The temple is called Ranganatha Swamy temple

I was too chicken to enter this dark room

I left the temple and walked towards the gorgeA panoramic view from Ranganatha Swamy templeTread carefully, its all rocky grounds hereI was walking towards the main reason I wanted to come to GandikotaWait for it….… voila! Ever thought India had geography that looked similar to America’s Grand Canyon?

Oh, if you thought the above photo would make for an awesome wallpaper, here’s a 1920×1200 version! 🙂

It’s quite windy at the edgeWonder how these rock formations even came to beingThe rocks just seem planted there

(Photograph by Ramesh)

A very calm Pennar river(Photograph by Anand)

We looked for other ways to reach centre of the hills, from where I hoped to take panorama of the entire plateau in front of us.

Just then, we spotted this opening, and I went in to see if it led anywhere

It led us out hereThe view from down here… about the same as from up therePhotograph by Ramesh

We made our way back out one-by-oneWe moved on furtherWe had to move slowly and chart our own pathI can’t stress enough on safety. It’s just rocks and boulders you will be stepping on, so take your own time. Some of these rocks are loose too.But it was worth it, the view was fantastic…… and I got my panorama!

Took some last few shots with the 70-200mm lens

Imagine what life must have been in those daysWe would have liked to have gone all the way down to the river… but we didn’t see a way or anybody else down there (Photo from Anand’s super-zoom camera)

How cool is that? There’s a cave down there… and I would had *so* loved to have gone in thereRed granite

We attempted a group shot with Ramesh’s camera atop my bag. After a few attempts, we got this.

The river flows into the Mylavaram reservoirThe rocks here are quite somethingIt was past 5pm, and most visitors were on their way backIt was getting darker, but I still had some more to seeI wanted to go that Mayan-like structure right of the centreWalking away from Erramala hillsIt smelt of shit here — both goat and cow (and hopefully not human)Unfortunately as I got near the structure, the entry path to the steps was blocked by plants and weedHello you shitters!Walked through the villageEverything is made of stone here

One of the village’s source of waterI walked back to the car and re-grouped with Ramesh and Anand

We still had one more temple to see inside the fort, but we just couldn’t figure out the way to get to it. So we drove out of the fort and wondered if there was another way.

Once out, the guides told us the way to Madhavaraya temple was from inside the fort itself, but they suggested we go tomorrow morning as the fort was going to be closed (more like, the guides were done for the day).

Well hello turkeys! We don’t see much of you here in India.They may taste good, but boy are they ugly headed!

We decided to head back to the hotel. We were all pretty tired and we just wanted to rest.

We went up to the roof of our cottage

Standing on the roof I thought of how I could have brought my grill and some marinated meat in the cooler. I’m sure the staff wouldn’t have minded. It’s a perfect setting for a barbecue.

Mind you, Gandikota isn’t for everyone. It’s not what I’d call a ‘family destination,’ unless your family is the adventurous kind. The rocks you will have to walk over just to take the kind of photos of the gorge you see above aren’t easy for everyone to do. Also, there is hardly anything around for fun or excitement. Not even a hospital in case of emergencies.

If you want a weekend of peace and quiet, some privacy or even a new spot to usher in the New Year with close friends, then consider Gandikota as a perfect Bangalore getaway.

The evening sky at 6:15pm was a picture perfect end to an amazing day of discoveryThere is quite literally, nothing surrounding this resortOnly stray dogs for company

I took bath without hot water because I desperately felt the need to be clean after walking amid goat droppings and all the climbing. Fortunately, it wasn’t too cold outside.

The same receptionist/attendant/waiter came to our room to ask us what we wanted for dinner. It would help the kitchen if we ordered in advance. The options weren’t many, but we asked for some rice, chapathis, dal, tomato curry, egg masala and egg burji. Everything cost Rs. 40-Rs. 45, so our expectations weren’t very high.

There is the option to have cable (Dish TV) in our room but we told the guy we definitely weren’t going to be watching television. We had ‘Mr. Jack‘ for company and the three of us spent the night reviewing our photos and chatting away.

Tomorrow morning, we had to go to the temple, drive 60kms to Belur caves and then drive back to Bangalore before nightfall. Day 1 was fantastic, we couldn’t wait to see what day 2 had in store for us!

Bonus: Here’s video of the Gandikota gorge I put together using clips from Ramesh’s and Anand’s camera

32 Comments

Very good collection of pictures. Good know about this place. Thanks for sharing!

Mithun Divakaran Reply:December 25th, 2011 at 5:49 PM

You are welcome!

krishnakumar

25/12/2011

good work, mithun. eagerly waiting to see the next

Harish

27/12/2011

Cool One waiting for Part – II….

Saurav

02/01/2012

Hey Nice pics..which camera you used for the photos..

Mithun Divakaran Reply:January 2nd, 2012 at 8:44 PM

Thanks Saurav, my main camera is the Canon 7D and my primary lens is the Canon 10-22mm wide angle lens. I carry two other lenses too.

Chandra

06/01/2012

Nice work guys..we are planning a trip from Blore just because of your pics and details. Thx 🙂

imran khan

25/05/2012

iam very surprize very happy to see this pics

Rohit

14/12/2012

These are beautiful pictures and the video is great!!! You guys really took ‘some’ risk in getting everyone to get to see the natural beauty of India!! Admire your passion!!!
Thanks!!

Mithun Divakaran Reply:December 14th, 2012 at 7:38 PM

Thank you Rohit! 🙂

Sonal

24/12/2012

Hi,

Came across this blog while searching for Belum caves. Very nice and beautiful photos. Thanks to you guys for taking all the pains and showing us all this beautiful place through wonderful pictures. Also, the description is very interesting with small details, sure to help folks planning to visit this less know marvel.

Regards,
Sonal

Mithun Divakaran Reply:December 24th, 2012 at 4:37 PM

Thank you for your kind words Sonal 🙂

vinayak

10/01/2013

infact i heard about Gandikota…but did’nt knew whats there ! i am going to yaganti+Belum on 12th Jan. ur blog helped me to add one more place to my tour…thanks a lot for ur beautiful pictures !!

A S Krishna Prasad

harish shenoy

05/08/2015

Great pictures. The blog was very informative. looking forward for a trip to Gandikota & Belum caves during october midterm holidays. But hardly anyone know about this place. None of my friends mentioned about this place. Recently I saw about the Belum caves in my friends facebook page.

Bharat Ram

16/08/2015

Very comprehensively covered. Thank you.

Naveena

23/08/2015

Hi, Thanks for this writeup! Informative as well as useful apart from the fact that there are such beautiful snaps!
Planning a drive from Bangalore in the first week of Sept, 2015. The accommodation you were in is of the AP tourism?

I am also looking at covering any other interesting nearby place during this drive. We could easily spare 2/3 nights for the drive.